By Francis Quamina Farrier

THERE is that saying, “A picture is worth a thousand words.” As such, this pictorial feature is likely my longest article in the Pepperpot Magazine. During this year, 2017, I have taken over a thousand photographs in many locations here in Guyana, as well as abroad, so it was a bit of a challenge to select the dozen which I have submitted for publication here. My hope is that you enjoy viewing them, as much as I enjoyed taking them. I also hope that you will find the brief stories accompanying them, interesting.

REFLECTION 1: New York-based, Guyana-born children of African heritage, were at the Guyana Cultural Association of New York’s Annual Awards Ceremony, at the Borough Hall, Brooklyn, on Wednesday, August 30, 2017, wearing Guyanese Indigenous outfits. I was very impressed. Later they did an Indigenous dance routine for the audience, which included Minister of Indigenous Peoples’ Affairs, Sydney Allicock, Guyana’s Ambassador to the United States and the Organisation of American States (OAS), Riyad Insanally, and Guyana’s Consul General to New York, Barbara Atherly. I’ll always treasure this photograph as proof of Guyana’s natural acculturation and Social Cohesion.

REFLECTION 2: Linden; the only town in Guyana in which a river (the Demerara) runs through it. I took this photograph on Tuesday, November 28, 2017, standing on the eastern bank of the Demerara river in Mackenzie, looking westward across the Demerara River to Wismar. As a 19-year-old lad some 60 years ago, I swam across the Demerara River at this very point – from Wismar to Mackenzie.

That was long before the three wards of Mackenzie, Wismar and Christianburg were given the umbrella name of Linden, dedicated to President Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham. You would also like to know that I lived in Christianburg for a short period during the mid-1940s, I was there at the end of the Second World War in 1945, and can clearly remember the jollification of the people, when the news was received that Germany was defeated; to some degree, with the help of those brave Guyanese who gave service in the British West Indian Regiment. Before the construction of the Soesdyke/Linden highway, travel from this location to Georgetown was by the Sprostons steamer, the “RH CARR”, and launches such as the “Sun Chapman”.

There were also some flights from Georgetown by the British Guiana Airways Corporation Grumman Goose amphibious six-seater airplane which landed in the Demerara River just about a quarter of a mile further upstream from this location in the photograph. That was even before the Mackenzie/Wismar bridge was built. Of interest, is that of the 345 of those planes which were manufactured and deployed internationally, two were in operation in British Guiana, and flew all over the colony.

REFLECTION 3: Three independent self-employed Guyanese youths. Our meeting on the Parika T&HD Ferry Stelling was on Monday, July 17, 2017, where we discussed their self-employment of bird trading. They go strictly by the laws, they told me. The Essequibo River and Leguan Island are in the background. I have to admit that I failed to garner more about these youths due to time constraints. However, every time I look at this photograph, I tend to like it more and more and wish that every assistance is given to these young men, to make their private business endeavours as successful as possible. We do need more people to do as the Minister of Finance, Hon. Winston Jordan, stated in Parliament during the 2018 National Budget debate, “Come off of our laurels”, and do not expect the government to do everything for us.

REFLECTION 4: Could it be the very broadrimed hat? Could it be that the image of this attractive face graces a Guyana Postage Stamp? Could it be the very radiant Guyanese smile? Or could it be that Guyanese everywhere have a great love and respect for jet aircraft Pilot Capt. Beverley Drake? I took this photograph at the Guyana Cultural Association of New York, Family Fun Day in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday, September 3, 2017. A true and genuine Guyanese patriot, USA-based Capt. Beverley Drake continues to visit Guyana on a regular basis and shares her vast aeronautical knowledge with younger colleagues. She is also a fashion lover and would indulge herself, due to her impeccable taste for only the best in attire, with some very daring creations which are figure flattering and oh, so attractive. Capt. Beverley Drake is also an exemplary mother and a superb role model for younger women in Guyana and worldwide.

REFLECTION 5: There are some citizens who do some simple things, which, if done by many others, would make our Guyana genuinely clean and green. I took this candid photograph on the south side of Robb Street, mid-way between Alexander and Camp Streets in Georgetown in November 2017. Having disposed of the garbage in the right way, this humble citizen is pictured washing the garbage receptacle – with soap and water. He had no objection to me taking this candid photograph of him doing what so many other citizens never would consider doing. Unfortunately, such actions by a patriotic Guyanese, are taken for granted by those in authority. By this simple chore, this citizen is being supportive of the City Council Cleansing Department, the Ministry of Public Health, as well as the Ministry of Tourism.

REFLECTION 6: BANKS DIH shareholder Malcolm DeFreitas, is a regular attendee at the Annual Shareholders Meeting at Thirst Park in Georgetown. At the Question and Answer period, he always asks pertinent questions about some aspects of the Company’s performance. He always ensures that the answers by the Banks DIH Company Chairman, Clifford Reis, are satisfactory. Both chairman and shareholder would then thank each other for the questions and the answers given. This photograph was taken at the Saturday, January 28, 2017, Shareholders Meeting at Thirst Park. Malcolm DeFreitas is also a prize-winning director at the Theatre Guild of Guyana.

REFLECTION 7: Let me say right away that I did not hear what President David Granger, MSS, MSM, was saying to Catholic Bishop Francis Alleyne, OSB, as I took this photograph. However, this is certainly one of my most favourite photographs of 2017, which I took on July 1, 2017, in Georgetown. So what was the president saying to the Bishop? I have never asked either of them. In fact, I’ve been playing the game of showing this photograph to many and asking them to imagine what the president might have been saying to the Bishop. The answers range from the frightening to the hilarious. I now pose that very same question to you.

REFLECTION 8: I took this photograph at the National Park in Georgetown on Emancipation Day, August 1, 2017. From left to right are; Dr Mark Kirton, Dr David Hinds, former Prime Minister Samuel Hinds, Minister of Public Infrastructure, David Patterson; Educator Nigel Wesmaas, and roving Ambassador, Wesley Kirton. Looking at this photograph you will observe that there are some doubles; two Kirtons. two University Professors, two Davids. two Hinds, two sitting Parliamentarians, two long-standing members of the WPA, two with PhDs. And by the way, just in case you consider this Pepperpot Feature of Photographs as being frivolous, just observe the statement on the Blue Board at the back which reads, “Indulge in life’s little treats.” Also, observe how these Guyanese of varying political persuasions came together in Social Cohesion and were so happy in each other’s company.

REFLECTION 9: I took this photograph with the father and baby on July 29, 2019. It represents the more than 100 such photographs which I have taken this year, 2017, not only in Guyana but overseas as well. About 10 years ago, I realised that there were many influential people in Guyana who were desecrating Father’s Day by going on a merciless male bashing tirade. These otherwise good folks, include Social Workers and Pastors. Since Father’s Day was intended for the good fathers, I decided that what was happening on Father’s Day in Guyana, was terribly wrong, and so I decided to do something about it.

I spoke with experts such as the head of the Guyana Responsible Parenthood Association, the late Frederick Cox, and his successor, Beverley Braithwaite-Chan, also Pastor John Smith of the Central Assembly of God Church and Pastor Raphael Massiah of the First Assembly of God, for advice and guidance. I wanted to have Father’s Day celebrated the way in which it was intended, and that is to honour the good fathers in our society. Father’s Day is just one day, one Sunday in the year, and it should not be abused, with pastors in particular, speaking exclusively about the bad fathers, when they ought to be speaking about the good fathers on that special day, and giving them words of recognition, praise and encouragement. Over the past five years or so, there has been a decrease in the way Father’s Day has been desecrated in Guyana.

REFLECTION 10: Pictured here is Ray Robinson who was the producer of Guyana’s first Radio Soap Opera, “The Tides of Susanburg” and its sequel “The Girl from Susanburg” which I wrote in the 1960s. His was the voice you heard at the start and end of each episode. After he migrated to the USA, I lost touch with my colleague and friend, Ray Robinson. Some years ago, I began diligent efforts to reconnect with him; we had not seen each other in over 30 years. Finally, on Tuesday, June 27, 2017, I visited with Ray Robinson in New York. It was a great reunion and we spoke at length about the contributions we both made to Guyana Radio from the colonial era into independence. Together we made history. Of course, I took photographs of him for myself, and also to show his cousin, Ron Robinson.

REFLECTION 11: I was going by the church on upper Durban Street, Lodge, in Georgetown, on Monday, July 24, 2017, when I thought I saw a bit of the Garden of Eden: Sunday School children enjoying their “small days” during the school holidays. The children were so happy playing with each other, and the environment was so clean, so beautiful, so green, that I went into the compound and got the permission of the teachers to take this photograph of what all children in Guyana should be enjoying; “The Good Life”, during their growing-up “small days” in an Eden-like paradise.

REFLECTION 12: Members of the Karow Indigenous Group from the South Rupununi Savannah, Region Nine, at the Guyana Cultural Association Family Fun Day in Brooklyn, New York, on Sunday, September 3, 2017. These Guyanese hail from a remote village in the deep south of the country, which has no paved streets, no electricity, no building higher than one story and no cars as far as modern life goes.

But they kept the Golden Arrowhead flying high, as they did their Indigenous dances and displayed other Indigenous cultural norms of their heritage. Before this trip, some of them had never been to Georgetown, and none of them had ever flown in a jet aircraft. They conducted themselves with dignity, decorum and charm wherever they went in the United States. I felt so proud of them as I took this photograph and so many others.